Category Archives: Pescatarian

04May / 2016

How do you like your eggs in the morning?

Poached eggs and asparagus

I can’t take much of the credit for this because my boyfriend cooked the eggs using the tips from a TV programme he saw and I cooked the asparagus!  However, I decided to use lemon juice and not vinegar and it actually worked!  I thought, I should really write this down or else I’m going to forget how to do it next time.

The other thing to note is that if you use an electric oven then it’s very difficult to keep a steady temperature, my hobs go up to 6 and we had to hover between 3 and 4 to keep the bubbles going but avoiding a rolling boil.

The other thing to note is that your eggs should be as fresh as possible.  The less fresh they are, the more runny the egg white is and less likely it is to keep together rather than spread out all over the pan.  You can test fresh eggs by making sure they sink to the bottom of a glass of water, or just use ones you’ve bought recently.  If you’re fortunate to get them straight from the hen, all the better!

blog 015.JPG

Serves 2

1 lemon

2 eggs

14 sticks of asparagus

1 tbsp olive oil

Salt and Pepper

  1.  Juice the lemon and boil the kettle.
  2. Heat one hob to a medium heat and place on there a medium saucepan with the boiled water in it.
  3. Heat another hob to a medium -high heat and put on a griddle pan.  Drizzle over the olive oil.
  4. Simmer the water so that there are bubbles are the bottom but surface is pretty much flat.  Keep it at that state by altering the hob dial as you go.
  5. Put one egg, still in its shell, in the water and roll it around with a spoon for 10 seconds.  Put to one side on a plate and do the same with the other egg.
  6. Add the asparagus to the griddle pan at this point, cook for 3-4 minutes turning halfway through.
  7. Meanwhile, add the lemon juice to the water and stir gently.
  8. Then crack the eggs into the water one at a time and simmer gently for 3 minutes.
  9. Bring together any stray egg white with a metal spoon.
  10. Arrange the asparagus onto plates.
  11. When the time is up, place the eggs on top of the asparagus and season with a pinch of salt and pepper.

 

Posted in Breakfast, Pescatarian, Vegetarian

Tags: , , , ,

Permalink Leave a comment

04May / 2016

Thai Crab Cakes and Papaya Salad

Thai Crab Cakes and Papaya Salad

I was a little worried that the crab cakes would come out floppy but once cooled they were the perfect consistency.  If you want to eat straight away it might be worth making the crab cakes in advance ready to go in the oven and then leaving them out for half an hour to dry out a little.

blog 038

Makes 5 lunches

Crab Cakes

75g celeriac

6 lime leaves

zest of 1 1/2 limes

1 stick of lemon grass

3 spring onions

7cm ginger root

2 small/1 big clove of garlic

2 small/1 big chilli

3 170g (120g drained) cans of white crab meat

3 tbsp millet or oats

1 tbsp olive oil

Salad

2 handfuls of bean sprouts

1 – 2 red peppers

1/2 chinese cabbage or any crunchy lettuce

1 papaya

1 bulb of fennel

3 tbsp cashew nuts

1 large handful of coriander leaves

Dressing

1 1/2 limes (use the zested ones as we just need the juice)

3 tbsp coconut milk

  1. Preheat the oven to 170C.
  2. Boil the kettle and heat up a hob.
  3. Remove the tough outer skin of the celeriac and cube into 1cm pieces.
  4. Add to a medium saucepan with boiling water and bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes until soft.
  5. Meanwhile, top and tail and peel the other crab cake ingredients as necessary, except for the millet and the crab. Roughly chop and blitz in a food processor and leave it in there.
  6. Drain the crab and flake into a large bowl.
  7. When the celeriac is done, drain well, pat dry with kitchen roll and add to the food processor and blitz once again.  Add the contents of the food processor to the bowl with the millet to soak up some of the moisture.  Mix well.
  8. Oil a couple of baking trays.  Using your hands shape the crab cake mixture into little patties about 4cm in diameter.  Arrange on the baking trays.
  9. Cook for 25 minutes turning halfway through.  ( You might want to wash up the bowl at this point unless you have more than one!)
  10. To make the salad, simply chop out the core of the pepper and discard.  Cut into 5mm strips and cut each strip in half.
  11. Shred the cabbage.
  12. Cut off the core of the fennel, cut in half lengthways so the pieces aren’t too big and shred using a mandolin.
  13. Remove the skin and the seeds from the papaya and chop into bite sized chunks.
  14. Finely chop the coriander.
  15. Add all the salad ingredients including the bean sprouts and cashews to a large bowl.
  16. Mix the coconut milk and juice of the limes together and use that to dress the salad.
  17. Arrange into bowls/tupperware and top with the crab cakes when you are ready to serve.

 

Posted in Lunch, Pescatarian

Tags: , , , , ,

Permalink Leave a comment

01May / 2016

Thai Steamed Sea Bass with Sesame Noodles, Garlic Pak Choi and Beetroot

Thai Steamed Sea Bass with Sesame Noodles, Garlic Pak Choi and Beetroot

food blog 054

My mum is on a Slimming World diet which doesn’t allow oil unless you count it as a syn.  So I decided to create something that she could cook.  This recipe does include oil but you can omit it as it’s not used in the cooking process or you could swap the noodles for cauliflower rice if necessary.  To make cauliflower rice, simply blitz up raw cauliflower in a food processor until fine, put in a bowl covered in cling film with a small slit in the top and microwave for 2 minutes.  I definitely cook this for her next time she comes around as she loves fish, loves Thai food and it’s really tasty!  I bought my thai ingredients from an oriental wholesaler, they were very cheap.  I have about 100 lime leaves in my freezer now!

Serves 2

Paste:

6cm ginger root

1 garlic clove

Juice of 2 limes

4 lime leaves

2 tbsp water

1 birds eye chilli

1 stick of lemon grass

2 large handfuls of fresh coriander

Fish

2 sea bass filleted or 4 sea bass fillets

Salt and Pepper

Vegetables

2 fresh raw beetroot

2 pak choi

1 clove of garlic

Noodles

2 nests of wholewheat noodles

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

1 tsp sesame seeds

Unsweetened desiccated coconut to serve (optional)

  1. Preheat the oven to 200C.
  2. Peel the ginger and lemongrass and blend it together with the other paste ingredients in the food processor.
  3. Get 2 1 metre pieces of kitchen foil to make your 2 packets for your fish, 1 per person.  Divide the 2 portions of fish between the 2 pieces of foil and place them in the middle with space either side to seal.  First, lay the fish skin side up and season with salt and pepper.  Then turn them over and spread on the paste on each of the fillets.
  4. For each packet, bring the two ends together and scrunch so that there is some space above the fish to make steam.  Then seal the sides.
  5. Place in the oven on a baking tray for 15 minutes, then open each packet up and bake for a further 5 minutes.
  6. Meanwhile, make the vegetables and noodles.
  7. Boil the kettle
  8. Meanwhile, chop off the root and tops from the beetroot, scrub any mud and remove any gnarly bits with a knife.  Using a mandolin on its biggest setting (about 2mm) cut the beetroot into slices.  Put in a small saucepan with the boiling water and simmer for 10 minutes.
  9. Put a large dry non stick frying pan on a medium heat.Slice the pak choi lengthways into 5mm thick slices.  Add to the pan and wait for it to sizzle.  Add about 5mm of water from the kettle to the bottom of the pan.  Crush in a clove of  garlic.  If all the water evaporates, add more, don’t let it go dry until near the end.  Cook for 3-4 minutes each side.
  10. Add boiling water from the kettle to a medium saucepan and simmer the noodles for 5 minutes with a pinch of salt.
  11. Once cooked, drain and return to the pan, stir in the sesame oil and sesame seeds.
  12. Plate up and sprinkle on the coconut if using.

 

 

Posted in Dinner, Pescatarian

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Permalink Leave a comment

DMCA Copyright Protected

© Elizabeth Winson and Raspberry Sundays, 2014 - 2016. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Elizabeth Winson and www.raspberrysundays.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. DMCA.com Protection Status